Abstract

This contribution aims to describe and analyze the interactions among local social actors during the three-year implementation of a project to combat educational poverty. The actions were conducted by actors rooted in the territorial context, a disadvantaged area of a region in Southern Italy. The organitations are considered relevant from the point of view of educational processes and are heterogeneous in terms of legal profile and operational specialization. This article sheds light on how the governance structure and the alliances that materialized have conditioned and shaped the educating community, and compares the original representation with the knowledge and learnings that emerged during the implementation phase of the project actions. On the coordination front, the characteristics and dynamics of coordination realized through two instruments adopted as theoreticaloperational strategies of intervention are explored in depth: a steering committee and a directing board. The point of view used for the analysis is that of the project evaluators, and the theoretical approach is process oriented. The information elaborated comes from the analysis of themes emerged from focus groups attended by social workers, teachers, clinicians and parents, in-depth interviews with the contact persons of the organizations in the partnership network, and monitoring data collected during the project.